Law enforcement officials were scrambling Monday afternoon to verify a social media post that appeared to show New Orleans jail fugitive Antoine Massey arguing that he was being miscast as a mastermind behind last month’s historic breakout.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair and another law enforcement source confirmed they were investigating the video, which was first published Sunday on Instagram.
“They say that I broke out. I didn’t break out. I was let out,” said the man on the video, who identified himself as Massey and wore the same facial tattoos. The video was deleted late Monday afternoon once news outlets began reporting on its contents.
The man later said that he left the jail because he was being charged for a crime he didn't commit.
"The reason why I left the jail is because these people were trying to give me a life sentence in both parishes for something that I did not do," the man said.
Massey, 32, is one of 10 inmates that broke out of Orleans Justice Center in May. Eight have been recaptured; Massey and Derrick Groves, 27, were the only two escapees to remain on the lam Monday.
Massey had been jailed in March on charges of motor vehicle theft and domestic abuse battery involving strangulation. He's also wanted by St. Tammany Parish authorities on suspicion of kidnapping and rape, law enforcement officials said.
His long criminal history dates back to at least 2009 and includes violent felony convictions of armed robbery, aggravated flight from an officer and felon in possession of a firearm. He was also sentenced on charges of theft, simple criminal damage to property and twice on tampering with electronic monitoring equipment.
Massey also has experience on the run: Last month's historic jailbreak marked his fifth escape if you include his twice cutting off ankle monitors.
In the video, the man disputes the account of jail plumber Sterling Williams, who told police last month that Massey threatened to shank him. Williams is accused of cutting off the water in a first-floor cell to facilitate the 10-inmate escape through a hole behind a toilet that had been ripped from the wall.
The inmates then fled through a pipe chase and out the back of loading dock before scaling a fence and running across the interstate. Police reports accompanying the arrests of more than a dozen alleged accomplices suggest Massey and others had sought help in advance.
“Sterling flat-out lied on me,” Massey said in the video Monday.
Williams, a 33-year-old civilian, faces one count of malfeasance in office and 10 counts of being a principal to simple escape. His attorney, Michael Kennedy, has disputed an account from police who said that Williams claimed that Massey threatened him.
Staff writer Ben Myers contributed to this story.
Stay tuned for more on this developing story.
